In this webinar hosted by AASA, Marguerite Roza provides an overview of the financial transparency requirement in the Every Student Succeeds Act, highlight lessons learned from states working towards meeting the requirement, and provide a district lens for thinking about the opportunities this new data can provide. View the recorded...

Reporting per-pupil expenditures at the school level will undoubtedly uncover some inequitable distribution of resources within states and districts across the country. The videos listed and linked below are part of a larger conversation about the equity element of the financial transparency at a meeting we convened in February 2017....

In this paper authors Marguerite Roza and Katherine Hagan describe their work with 22 state education agencies to identify data readiness to meet the financial transparency reporting requirement and outline the inventory processes so other states can identify their own data readiness and start to outline next steps to meet the requirement....

In this post and podcast Marguerite Roza shares how a sleeper provision in the Every Student Succeeds Act will serve up a motherlode of never-before-available school-level financial data. And how if we seize the unprecedented opportunity this data offers, we will be better equipped to tackle some of education’s most...

Below are links to several papers by Edunomics Lab cost modeling productivity improvements. In the absence of reliable estimates of national K-12 staffing, Jim Simpkins and Marguerite Roza compile data from several national sources to determine historical K – 12 staffing ratios. Their analysis finds that staffing ratios across K-12...

Research has shown that teachers and salaries are inequitably distributed within school districts, but the same rationale has yet to be applied to pension wealth. This new paper by Marguerite Roza shows how high-minority schools receive fewer dollars in pension wealth than low-minority schools within the same district, and makes the...

A New Era of School Finance The McCourt School of Public Policy’s 2016 LEAD Conference, A New Era of School Finance, led by Seattle-based research center Edunomics Lab, convened leading authorities for a dialogue on the complexities of education finance in light of the new Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA)....

Productivity is sometimes seen as a dirty word in education. But it doesn't have to be. In this article published by Education Next author Marguerite Roza discusses how school systems can improve productivity when so much of what matters -- human interactions -- can't be centrally managed and scaled across...

Advancing System Productivity Webinar Series Edunomics Lab, in partnership with Council of Chief State School Officers and the Building State Capacity and Productivity Center, convened a Community of Practice to support a group of leaders in all states interested in developing a state-specific framework and strategy set related to the...

On February 9 nearly 100 state and district leaders representing 36 states met in Washington D.C. to explore the opportunities and work ahead to meet the financial transparency reporting requirement in ESSA. Available presentations are linked below. - Marguerite Roza, Director Edunomics Lab & partner of BSCP Center and Lynzi Ziegenhagen, CEO...

In this hands-on workshop presented at NAIS national conference in March 2017 school leaders dove into the math of school resource allocation. Dr Roza shared innovative financial strategies and how leaders could apply the concepts to their own school context. Topics included; getting a grip on rising costs; gauging value for...

Productivity is sometimes seen as a dirty word in education. But it does not have to be. In this article author Marguerite Roza discusses how school systems can improve productivity when so much of what matters -- human interactions -- can't be centrally managed of scaled across schools. This article...

Breaking tradition: A fixed-dollar pay raise strategy that benefits teachers and school districts In this analysis Marguerite Roza examines both the degree to which pay systems for teachers are more heavily back-loaded than for many other professions and the ramifications of this steep salary curve for teachers, states and school...

Highly Productive Rural Districts: What is the Secret Sauce? In this paper authors Marguerite Roza and Georgia Heyward identify some common themes that makes some remote rural districts “productivity superstars” and describe steps states can take to encourage and support district productivity. This paper was published by the Rural Opportunities...

How the teacher pay raise formula could worsen Seattle’s inequity In this oped Marguerite Roza describes one critical issue underlying the fall 2015 Seattle Public Schools teachers' strike that neither the Seattle School District nor the Seattle Education Association, the teachers’ union, took on: the built-in inequities across schools created...

Promoting Productivity: Lessons from Rural Schools In this essay author Marguerite Roza challenges the assumption that rural districts are less productive than their urban or suburban peers by discussing rural districts can “beat the odds” by increasing student results without increasing per-pupil expenditures. Read this essay

Turning a Benefits Conundrum into a Potential Opportunity for Teachers and Students Teacher benefit costs are rising faster than salaries and new revenues are unlikely to appear. This new analysis by Marguerite Roza shows how a longer work year could increase teachers’ annual salaries and improve student outcomes. This unique...

Teachers’ Pensions and the Overgrazed Commons On March 26, 2015 Governing published this commentary by Marguerite Roza and Michael Podgursky on how big raises to teachers nearing retirement is a recipe for letting pension debt get out of control. Read this commentary

Is spending more on education the best way to improve schools and teaching? Marguerite Roza participated in an online conversation "Room for Debate" hosted by NY Times. Read her response to the question ~ Is spending more on education the best way to improve schools and teaching? (Basically, does more...

Title I: Time to Get It Right In this brief Marguerite Roza and Robin Lake, Center on Reinventing Public Education, reflect on the goals of Title I and offer five key principles to guide changes to Title I to fulfill its promise to poor students. Read this brief

How to boost teacher pay, raise student performance (Washington, D.C., February 24, 2015) It is possible to increase teacher pay and advance student performance without new resources. A new analysis from the Edunomics Lab at Georgetown University reveals a meaningful and cost-neutral option to improve teacher pay. Read this release...

Paying the Best Teachers More to Teach More Students Research has found that the impact of an effective teacher outweighs the impacts of smaller class sizes. In this analysis authors Marguerite Roza and Amanda Warco find allowing our best teachers to teach more students in lieu of hiring additional staff...

Innovation Amid Financial Scarcity: The Opportunity in Rural Schools In this paper, published by the Rural Opportunities Consortium of Idaho, Marguerite Roza explores spending and outcomes data of rural schools and highlights policy implications for states seeking improved outcomes for all their districts in the context of limited resources. Read...

The Phantom Menace: Policies that Protect Districts from Declining or Low Enrollments, Drive Up Spending and Inhibit Adaptation In this paper, part of the Productivity for Results Series published by George W. Bush Institute, authors Jon Fullerton and Marguerite Roza examine the curious practice of states funding school districts for...

Student Based Allocation 101 Infographic This one page infographic details what student based allocation is, how it differs from traditional funding formulas and highlights the primary benefits of this allocation method. Download this resource

An Easier Fix to Growing Teacher-Pension Debt (Washington, D.C., December 15, 2014) – A few critical adjustments to teacher-pay plans would allow states to work toward fully funding their pension plans, and boost pay for newer, younger teachers. Read this release Read this paper

How Late-Career Raises Drive Teacher-Pension Debt Teacher salary decisions are often made with little connection to the pension obligations they entail. In this paper, authors Marguerite Roza and Jessica Jonovski model the impacts of late-term raises on teacher pension obligations showing that on average each dollar raise triggers $10 to...

Can decentralization improve Seattle schools? In this OpEd Marguerite Roza and Jim Simpkins suggest Seattle Public Schools consider allocation policies similar to many large urban districts that give schools control over how they use district funds to educate their school community. Read this article

The Real Deal on K-12 Staffing In the absence of reliable estimates of national K-12 staffing, Jim Simpkins and Marguerite Roza compile data from several national sources to determine historical K – 12 staffing ratios. Their analysis finds that staffing ratios across K-12 education have risen precipitously over several decades...

Building Productivity: State Education Agency Role On July 12 Marguerite Roza presented a session at Council of Chief State School Officers' Summer Institute. In her session Chiefs heard about a basic framework for leading the productivity challenge that includes building a productivity data infrastructure, prioritizing flexibility, aligning funds with students,...

Denver Public Schools: Making More Money Follow Students In this paper authors Marguerite Roza and Cory Edmonds share how Denver Public Schools has over time steadily increased the amount of district funds deployed through its student based allocation formula. Read this paper

What Portion of District Funds Follow Students? In this paper authors Marguerite Roza and Cory Edmonds examine 12 urban district budgets for FY 2014 to determine the percentage of each district's total resources allocated on the basis of students and discuss the similarities and differences in their student based allocation...

Boston Public Schools: Weighting What Matters In this paper authors Marguerite Roza and Cory Edmonds share how in recent years, Boston Public Schools detailed student based allocation formula has undergone several revisions both to further refine student categories and to deploy additional portions of the district’s resources. Read this report

A State Information System to Support Improvements in Productivity In this essay Marguerite Roza discusses the data needed to support districts and schools as they seek new, more productive solutions. Read this report

Funding for Student's Sake: How to Stop Financing Tomorrow's Schools Based on Today's Priorities In this essay Marguerite partners with Larry Miller (CRPE) and Suzanne Simburg, to discuss how new funding and allocation models can encourage productive local decision making and how states can seize the rare opportunity many now...

To What Extent Are State and Local Monies Disbursed on the Basis of Students Edunomics Lab's ongoing analysis determines the percent of state and local monies deployed via a student based allocation formula. Read this presentation Read this report

SEA of the Future: Building the Productivity Infrastructure Marguerite Roza authored two essays in this volume of The SEA of the Future. This volume published by BSCP Center introduces the “productivity infrastructure" the building blocks for an SEA committed to supporting productivity, innovation, and performance—from the state chief to the...

Training Principals for Budgeting at the School Level Webinar On April 8 Marguerite Roza hosted a webinar for district and school leaders to experience training segments used to raise capacity of principals for school level budgeting. Participants experienced a set of activities designed to help school leaders rethink the use...

How much money follows the student in WSF (aka SBA) districts? In this presentation given at the 39th annual conference of the Association for Education Finance and Policy Cory Edmonds shared the findings of an Edunomics Lab study exploring seven urban school districts utilizing a student based allocation formula to...

Rethinking Class Size to Expand Access to Best Teachers and Raise Pay In this presentation given at the 39th annual conference of the Association for Education Finance and Policy Suzanne Simburg shared the findings of an Edunomics Lab study exploring cost neutral options to raise teacher pay and provide more...

Civic Vitality and Public Education Productivity: The Harbormaster Mayor Public schools impact the cultural and material well-being of communities. In this paper authors Victor Reinoso and Marguerite Roza share how mayors can improve the quality-of-life and the economic base in their municipality by finding and promoting productive school models. Read...

Webinar: Building a State Information System to Support Improvements in Productivity On February 26 Marguerite Roza conducted a webinar for state education agency leaders. This webinar explored how SEAs can build an information system designed to drive productivity – what data are needed, how to compile the data into useful...

Taking Off the Heat On January 29, 2014 Marguerite Roza shared risks and rewards that emerge when districts “decentralize” engagement around financial decisions to the school level with Portfolio School District Network members in Houston, TX. Read this presentation

Webinar: An Introduction to Student Based Allocation On December 10, 2013 Marguerite Roza hosted a webinar for district and community leaders interested in learning more about student based allocation (SBA) models (a.k.a. WSF or weighted student funding). She shared how student based allocation models work, why districts use SBA, what...

VisionSBA: K-12 Financial Modeling Tool VisionSBA provides education leaders with a unique outlook on spending by school level within a district, delivering insight into relative spending across schools adjusted for each school’s actual mix of students. This interactive tool developed by Marguerite Roza and Jim Simpkins answers the question: “How...

Options for NY State in an Era of Constrained Resources In November 2014 Marguerite Roza presented at a public symposium of the NY Education Reform Commission "Maximizing Resources for Student and School Success". View this presentation

The SEA of the Future: Prioritizing Productivity Marguerite Roza co-authored two essays in this volume of The SEA of the Future. This volume published by BSCP Center examines how state leaders, challenged with having to make decisions on how to use limited resources are faced with an uneasy zero-sum game:...

Teacher Retirement Benefits: Defining a More Active Role for SEAs and Their Chiefs In this essay from The SEA of the Future Volume 2, Marguerite Roza and Michael Podgursky draw on their research on productivity and pensions to look in depth at the startling long-term costs of educator pension systems...

Leveraging Productivity for Progress: An Imperative for States In this essay published in The SEA of the Future, Volume 2, author Marguerite Roza makes the case for why productivity is essential to improving outcomes for students. Roza offers officials at state education agencies an action plan toward embedding productivity into...

The Case Against High School Sports In this article published by The Atlantic author Amanda Ripley, describes the role of high school sports in the American education system, how current resource allocations favor sports over academics and consequences as American students fall behind in international rankings and draws on Marguerite...

Dollars and Sense Accountability In July 2013 Marguerite Roza spoke with 23 district leaders, charter organizations and funders at the Portfolio School District Network meeting in Seattle. Using a recent analysis of Minneapolis Public Schools Marguerite discussed how districts could start to view schools in terms of costs and outcomes...

The High Price of Excess Credits This brief by Alicia Kinne, Grant Blume and Marguerite Roza, examines the cost of extra credits earned by students in California, Georgia and New York and opportunities for state and university leaders to maximize degree attainment with constrained resources. Read this report

More Students, More Degrees, More Dollars Cuts to state support for higher education have prompted some universities to raise tuition, admit more out-of-state students, and increase enrollment to close budget gaps. This analysis authored by Marguerite Roza, Alicia Kinne, Patrick Murphy, and Betheny Gross compares these three strategies in public...

Funding Phantom Students In this brief published by Education Next, authors Marguerite Roza and Jon Fullerton describe a common practice that inhibits both efficiency and productivity: funding students who do not actually attend school in funded districts and how this is often overlooked by state leaders. Read this report

How Current Education Governance Distorts Financial Decisionmaking Marguerite Roza authored chapter three of Education Governance for the Twenty-First Century (P. McGuinn and P. Manna, eds). This book comprehensively assesses the strengths and weaknesses of what remains of the old in education governance, scrutinizes how traditional governance forms are changing, and...

Student-Based Allocation to Enable School Choice This brief authored by Marguerite Roza and Suzanne Simburg published by Center on Reinventing Public Education explains the need for student-based allocation to enable student choice and portable funding across schools within districts. Read this report

Innovating Toward Sustainability: How Computer Labs Can Enable New Staffing Structures, and New Savings Using wage and staffing data from states, authors Marguerite Roza and Suzanne Simburg project the financial and staffing implications of one innovative school model (the Rocketship lab rotation) to highlight potential impacts on the schooling workforce...

Are Residents Losing Their Edge in Public University Admissions? The Case at the University of Washington Public universities across the country are shifting more spots to nonresidents (who pay higher tuitions) in order to plug budget gaps. This Rapid Response brief authored by Grant Blume and Marguerite Roza examines admissions...

What Happens to Teacher Salaries During a Recession? This study by Marguerite Roza, Suzanne Simburg, Jim Simpkins uses data from Seattle Public Schools to explore actual salary changes amidst rapid changes in economic context and the effect of the recession on teacher pay. This Rapid Response brief was published by...

The Opportunity Cost of Smaller Classes: A State-By-State Spending Analysis Consideration of whether smaller classes are preferable to larger ones requires some recognition of the opportunity costs involved. This brief authored by Marguerite Roza and Monica Ouijdani provides a state-by-state context by computing the dollars at stake in marginally raising...

Q&A on the Chicago Teachers Contract Math In this Rapid Response brief published by Center on Reinventing Public Education author Marguerite Roza examines the real numbers on the Chicago teachers contract costs. Read this report

Chicago Teacher Salaries in the Regional Chicago Context In Rapid Response brief published by Center on Reinventing Public Education author Marguerite Roza examines at how Chicago teacher salaries compare in regional and national contexts. Read this report

The Sheepskin Effect and Student Achievement: De-emphasizing the Role of Master's Degrees in Teacher Compensation This brief by Raegen Miller and Marguerite Roza dissects the nation’s sizeable investment in master’s bumps as a means of highlighting policy obstacles to a more smartly differentiated compensation approach. The report was published by...

Rethinking State Education Finance Toward Greater Productivity Marguerite Roza gave this presentation on November 10, 2011 to members of the National Conference of State Legislatures at "Reallocation of Scarce State Resources: A Seminar for Education Committee Chairs." This presentation framed how state legislators might think differently about their investment in...

Stretching the School Dollar: A Brief for State Policymakers This policy brief by Michael J. Petrilli and Marguerite Roza lists fifteen concrete ways that states can “stretch the school dollar” in these difficult financial times. This brief was published by Thomas B. Fordham Institute.

The Promise of Cafeteria-Style Benefits for Districts and Teachers This brief by Noah Wepman, Marguerite Roza and Cristina Sepe describes how a different method of supplying benefits to employees might work for districts: cafeteria plans. While typical school district plans offer a one-size-fits-all package of benefits to employees, cafeteria plans...

Curing Baumol's Disease: In Search of Productivity Gains in Public Education This paper published by Center on Reinventing Public Education first explores the past and future outlook for education absent productivity gains. The authors, Paul Hill and Marguerite Roza, then discuss several areas in which labor-intensive businesses have improved productivity:...

Curing Baumol's Disease: In Search of Productivity Gains in Public Education This paper published by Center on Reinventing Public Education first explores the past and future outlook for education absent productivity gains. The authors, Paul Hill and Marguerite Roza, then discuss several areas in which labor-intensive businesses have improved productivity:...

A False Dilemma: Should decisions about education resource use be made at the state or local level? As states have assumed a greater role in financing education and the assumption of local control has been replaced by systems of state control. This shift in authority raises several critical questions. In...

Breaking Down School Budgets: Following the Dollars into the Classroom This analysis by Marguerite Roza published by Education Next in summer 2009 examines ways in which per-pupil spending in high schools varies by subject and course level, and demonstrates how isolating spending on discrete services can 1) identify the relationships...

The Disproportionate Impact of Seniority-Based Layoffs on Poor, Minority Students Looking at the 15 largest districts in California authors Cristina Sepe and Marguerite Roza, demonstrate that teachers at risk of layoff are concentrated in schools with more poor and minority students, concluding that "last in, first out" policies disproportionately affect...

Educational Economics: Where Do School Funds Go? This book authored by Marguerite Roza explains how varied funding streams can prevent schools from delivering academic services that mesh with their stated priorities and offers concrete prescriptions for reform. This book is available for purchase at Amazon

K–12 Job Trends Amidst Stimulus Funds: Early Findings This brief by Marguerite Roza, Chris Lozier and Cristina Sepe explores trends in K–12 education jobs—those funded through the stimulus and by other means—to answer the question of what role ARRA played in overall education employment. This Rapid Response brief was published...

Beyond Teacher Reassignments: Better Ways Districts Can Remedy Salary Inequities Across Schools This Rapid Response brief by Marguerite Roza and Sarah Yatsko demonstrates how, contrary to common worry, closing Title I's "comparability provision" loophole would not force districts to mandatorily reassign teachers. This paper was published by Center on Reinventing...

Have States Disproportionately Cut Education Budgets During ARRA? Early Findings This analysis by Marguerite Roza and Susan Funk explores how state education spending has changed or will change given the application of the State Fiscal Stabilization Fund. This Rapid Response brief was published by Center on Reinventing Public Education. Read...

Now is a Great Time to Compute the Per-Unit Cost of Everything in Education This paper by Marguerite Roza examines how calculating the per unit costs of what schools or districts can deliver can provide the best insight into the implications of all that spending. This paper was prepared for...

Seniority-Based Layoffs Will Exacerbate Job Loss in Public Education In this Rapid Response brief, published by Center on Reinventing Public Education, Marguerite Roza details why K-12 school districts that lay off personnel according to seniority cause disproportionate damage to their programs and students than if layoffs were determined on a...

What is the Sum of the Parts? How Federal, State, and District Funding Streams Confound Efforts to Address Different Student Types This report by Marguerite Roza, Kacey Guin, and Tricia Davis demonstrates in greater detail than ever before how America’s methods of school finance work against a single-minded focus on...

Understanding Student-Weighted Allocation as a Means to Greater School Resource Equity This article by Karen Hawley Miles and Marguerite Roza examines how the shift to student-weighted allocation affected the pattern of resource distribution within 2 districts: the Houston Independent School District and Cincinnati Public Schools. This study published in Peabody...

How Districts Shortchange Low-Income and Minority Students This article by Marguerite Roza appeared in Funding Gaps 2006, a report published by Education Trust. The full report documents how school finance policy choices at the federal, state, and district levels systematically stack the deck against students who need the most support...

Pennywise and Pound Foolish in Education This article written by Marguerite Roza and Paul Hill provides an overview of school funding. With the understanding that no one exactly knows how money for schools is spent and who receives the money, the authors suggest that weighed student funding would show exactly...

A Cost Allocation Model for Shared District Resources: A Means for Comparing Spending Across Schools Recent policy changes at the state and federal level have made schools the focus of accountability. However, under current budgeting practices, it is difficult to assess how resources are distributed between schools and whether every...

Leveling the Playing Field: Creating Funding Equity Through Student-Based Budgeting When Cincinnati Public Schools devised a reform strategy for improving student performance, it became clear that the district's traditional budgeting system was inadequate. This report, published by The Phi Delta Kappa, traces the district's process of moving to a system...